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I've never seen a movie with a gay theme that holds as much entertainment value for straights, gays, men, or women as this movie. It has it all, and it ends most remarkably.

Imagine, if you can, a Italian (English subtitled) movie featuring all the qualities of a flip gay musical that suddenly turns into a traumatic and beautifully-scored but star-crossed love affair, and then ends with power, pathos, and a strong message. That's Un Bacio.

The actors are superb--a gay boy Lorenzo played by the almost too pretty Rimau Grillo Ritzberger, a girl Blu played by the beautiful Valentina Romani, and a straight boy Antonio played by the stunningly handsome Leonardo Pazzagli (pronounced pahtz-EYE-ee). They play three best-of-friends, more or less outsiders at their high school. But Lorenzo falls in love with Antonio, who falls in love with Blu, who loves an another man out of school. It's obviously complicated, and it only gets more so when Lorenzo finally shows his affection for an unreceptive Antonio. The drama builds from there in traumatic scenes that anyone who has suffered unrequited love can understand. The heaviest scenes are scored perfectly to songs like Hurts and Read All About It...so perfectly that you will want re-watch these scenes many times.

Here I must stop. An enormous spoiler is possible, and I will not go there. I will say only that is a movie with beautiful sets, beautiful music, beautiful faces, powerful acting, sadness, tragedy, love, joy, and a message. Ask yourself how often you see a movie with all of that.

Just don't quit at the butterflies and musical interludes. They'll make more sense in retrospect. This movie is...what is the Italian word?....oh, yes...

FANTASTICO!!

Andrew Cividino, in his feature-length directorial debut, has masterfully captured the behavior and stresses of typical adolescent boys. The slip-fighting, trash-talking, hijinks, humor, poor judgment, and friendship will take adult male viewers on a trip through time, and the attractive and engaging cast will capture female viewers as well.

The movie's three teen leads-first-time actors Jackson Martin as the wimpy, red-haired Adam Hudson, Nick Serino as the mouthy, ever-challenging Nate, and Reece Moffett as Nick's brooding and likeable cousin Riley-carry the story like veterans, largely because they were given rope to suggest scenes, ad-lib lines, and be themselves. Serino won his role as Nate in a casting call in his native Thunder Bay, Ontario. When no suitable Riley was found, Nick suggested his real-life cousin Reece, also a local. Indeed, Rita Serino, who plays the cousins' grandmother, is their real-life grandmother! Such casting doesn't sound like a formula for good filmmaking, but, here, it works. The boys won two international awards for ensemble acting and each of them won a nomination, or award, for best supporting actor at a major film festival with Nick winning Best Supporting Actor at the Canadian Screen Awards ("Canadian Oscars"). Needless to say, director Andrew Cividino cleaned up on major directorial awards, winning six.

The entire story unfolds on location in the Sunnyside Beach community of Amethyst Harbour a few miles from Thunder Bay. While spending a summer with his parents there, Adam is befriended by Nate and Riley who are summering with their grandmother nearby. The trio engage in typical rambunctious behavior, much of it resisted by wimpy Adam, to include skateboarding, cliff jumping, wrestling, sling-shot wars, egging homes, tobacco chewing, stealing beer, playing basketball, falling from golf carts, and smoking pot. At one point, Adam balks at a 35-foot cliff jump. As Nate yells, "You coward inbred f-k...jump!!" from below, Riley turns to Adam and says, matter-of-factly, "Look, if you jump, the worst that's going to happen is that you might get physically injured. If you don't jump, there's a 100% chance that Nate's gonna mentally abuse you all summer for not jumping."

But the plot is not all basketballs and beer. The mood darkens when Nate reveals a secret to Adam, one that alters his character. Then Nate brings the movie to a boil as the boys play a board game with Adam's parents. Irritated by a game rule, Nick goes on a frank, obscenity-laced rant in which he trashes his adult hosts and openly humiliates Riley, earning himself a bloody nose. Finally, the mood goes fully dark when a suggested coming-of-age theme drives Adam to tell a lie, a lie that brings the movie to an emotional and well-foreshadowed conclusion. Five of the last six words in the movie are f-bombs. Given the context, you won't even notice.

The boys' interactions are typical, genuine, and believable, and the trio leads the viewer through an entire range of teen emotions from bored, funny, happy, lovesick, flip, fearful, sarcastic, melancholy, angry, jealous, embarrassed, courageous, and sad. If I find any fault, it's that the movie ends too soon. You could watch these three kids act all evening. The movie is a remake of a 2014 short film in which Reece and Nick also starred and is beautifully filmed and nicely scored.

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Exact Google Earth Filming Locations (use 6-6-2017 imagery date)

Lakeside front yard, 48° 32' 35.34" N 88° 54' 13.39" W (community fair scene)

House and lakeside front yard, 48° 32' 34.73" N 88° 54' 3.54" W (Hudson's summer cabin; outdoor baseball toss scenes)

Back yard, 48° 32' 33.51" N 88° 53' 53.42" W (trampoline scene)

Pier, 48° 32' 31.97" N 88° 53' 52.49" W (pier scenes with Adam and Taylor and with boys chewing tobacco)

Sunnyside Beach, 48° 32' 32.25" N 88° 53' 51.82" W (final scene with Adam and Riley)

Roadside, 48° 32' 35.58 "N 88° 53 51.36" W (drunken Riley stuck in truck)

Recreational area, 48° 32' 37" N 88° 53' 58" W (opening swing set scene; basketball scene; community games scene)

Sunnyside Beach, 48° 32' 32.68" N 88° 53' 33.74" W (early wrestling scene)

Crystal Beach Variety (Sunys gas station), 48° 32' 38.02" N 88° 54' 47.83" W (beer theft scene)

The Fish Shop, 48° 32' 38.78" N 88° 54' 57.90" W (fish shop scene)

Rocky cascade, 48° 32 '2.72" N 88° 56' 30.08" W (Adam sitting on rock under bridge)

35-foot cliff, Caribou Island, 48° 31' 34.21" N 88° 49' 39.26" W (first cliff jump scene)

100-foot cliff (Todd's Cliff), Caribou Island, 48° 31' 39.60" N 88° 50 '1.60" W (boating scene and final cliff jump scene)

The Sleeping Giant, 48° 20' 0.22" N 88° 54' 31.52" W (multiple distant views)

Danny, portrayed by Chadbourne Hamblin, is physically beaten by his worthless father to the point that Danny is in a constant state of withdrawal from others and terrified of being home. On one occasion, Danny, wracked with a feeling of worthlessness, is driven to remove a handgun from his father's closet, but he quickly returns it. A fellow student, Justin, played by Stewart Calhoun, then befriends Danny, though Danny is very slow to accept the friendship. But Justin persists, and their bond grows, bringing some light into Danny's life at last. The light is shattered at school, however, when Justin gently touches Danny's badly bruised face after another beating. Nearby students misinterpret the gesture, and Danny's emotional trauma reaches critical mass. That afternoon, Justin finds his terribly distraught friend in a public park, and events reach a poignant conclusion.

The film is a brief look at the friendship of two boys in the crucible of physical abuse and student homophobia. The acting may not be Oscar level, but Hamblin's role as a tortured teen is credible and his pain is brutally palpable...to the point that he barely makes eye contact with anyone in the entire film--clear evidence of thoughtful film direction. Filmed in SoCal's San Fernando Valley, this 25-minute short will not disappoint.